The present invention relates to apparatus for temporarily storing successive sheets of a stream of partly overlapping or non-overlapping sheets. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus of the type wherein the sheets are confined between the convolutions of a band which is wound onto a core. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus of the type wherein the sheets are supplied to the upper side of a band which is drawn from a reel and wherein the reel is disposed at a level below whereas the core is located at a level above the path for the sheets.
A drawback of conventional apparatus of the above outlined character is that the delivery of sheets must be interrupted for relatively long intervals of time whenever a core and the corresponding band are converted into a fully grown roll. This can present serious problems when the nature of the source of sheets is such that the sheets must be accepted without interruptions or, at the very least, that the interruptions be short or extremely short. Such situation can develop when the sheets issue from a printing machine and are fed to a sheet folding unit which discharges a continuous stream of partly overlapping or non-overlapping folded sheets. If the apparatus which is designed to convert the continuous stream of sheets into a succession of shorter streams, each of which is temporarily stored between the convolutions of a band, requires relatively long intervals of non-delivery of sheets between the completion of a roll and the start of confinement of sheets on the core of the next roll, the printing machine and the folded unit must be arrested with attendant considerable losses in output.